Shores of Heaven

In Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park the clean, clear Lake Huron and Georgian Bay waters gently wash, or harshly pound, pristine shores of cobbles and cliffs according to the vagaries of the wind. The people of the area led the way to the 1987 birth of these two national parks. Author Bob Day served as mid-wife, delivering the necessary local public approval with much essential assistance from local leaders and citizenry. Then the governments of Canada...
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In Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park the clean, clear Lake Huron and Georgian Bay waters gently wash, or harshly pound, pristine shores of cobbles and cliffs according to the vagaries of the wind. The people of the area led the way to the 1987 birth of these two national parks. Author Bob Day served as mid-wife, delivering the necessary local public approval with much essential assistance from local leaders and citizenry. Then the governments of Canada and Ontario more broadly consulted their constituencies. The entire 6 year process led to the establishment of these two national parks. This is a story replete with strong opinions, heated arguments, parades of protest, forest fires and a bullet in the bush. The existence of these two national parks also helped to foster the creation of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve. The parks features and activities include: 1,000 year old trees, Flowerpot Island trails and caves, Bruce Trail walking, camping, scenic boat tours and scuba diving on historic shipwrecks all crowned by scenic views from the Parks Canada Visitor Center a short walk from Little Tub Harbour in Tobermory. The village is a jewel in the center of it all with 2 harbours, lodges, hotels, motels, cabins, and restaurants for every budget. Art galleries, book stores and gift shops help pass the time while waiting to board the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry, the largest car ferry on the Great Lakes. The Ferry links to Manitoulin Island beyond which is a renowned Lake Superior scenic drive. The book also tells the story of the Bruce Peninsula people and how they have used, and sometimes abused, its natural resources. Through treaties signed in the 1800''s the First Nations have been squeezed onto small reserves and until recent times were bystanders watching others benefit from the natural resources of their ancestral homeland. While this is a complex issue the author shares his experiences with it and suggests an initiative which might help the path forward to be an improvement on the past. By the early twentieth century the magnificent forests were gone and the organic Peninsula soils had dried up and blown away. The details of an Ontario led resolution of this problem are set out in the story of Verd Fisk, a man who spent a career doing so. Similarly the story of how the Bruce Trail came to the Peninsula is told by Ross McLean who helped make it happen. Gord Cottrill spent a career with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources helping to conserve and protect nature, including on the Bruce Peninsula. His mantra ''ask for forgiveness not permission'' led directly to the preservation of Cabot Head, a key part of the World Biosphere Reserve. It was fitting that in December of 1987 Gord handed the author the keys to the facilities in Cyprus Lake Provincial Park thereby symbolizing the creation of Bruce Peninsula National Park. The author''s Parks Canada career took him from the mountains of the Yukon in the northwest of Canada to the Atlantic Provinces in the east. He shares with the reader a lighthearted look at his experiences. In Kluane National Park(NP) we feel his anxiety when told that the reason for a sudden helicopter descent was ''life''. In Wood Buffalo NP a boat trip across Lake Athabasca turned from being mosquito bitten into a nail-biter in a wave-fraught return. A horse in Riding Mountain NP committed suicide rather than spend a second day carrying the author through the Birdtail Valley. In Gros Morne NP when the author told the pilot that the seat he was strapped into was not attached to the plane the pilot replied, ''I don''t build ''em I just flies em'' as he powered into a takeoff. On the Rideau Canal a sinking tour boat at the Kingston Mills Lock Station would have done Stephen Leacock proud and an icy Dows Lake disaster was avoided by good luck not good management. Each of our parks and historic sites has its own story to tell. Collectively they help to define us as Canadians.